The SMART drum line trial starting this week in the south of WA

with warnings and alerts

18 February 2019

Sean Lindsay

SMART drum lines are coming to WA! Although it will begin with a 15 month trial with 11.5 kilometres of coast off Gracetown having drum lines installed.

The trial will be rolled out this Thursday with an announcement today that the SMART drum lines will include nine lights-and-siren shark alarms and 240 monitors that will collect data about the movement of tagged shark.

The alarms will ring out across the beach once a tagged animal is detected or caught in the drum line. Trapped sharks will be hooked, taken out to sea and tagged if necessary.

The trial is not an inexpensive exercise. The original costing was $3.84 million and will be increased by almost $80,000 with the additional warning alarms and underwater monitors.

The monitors will be useful to monitor if caught and tagged sharks return closer to shore or move along the coast.

The success in the trial could lead to popular beach locations across the state, including Esperance, adopting the SMART drumline and warning alerts system, which ultimately aim to increase safety for swimmers.

Sean discussed about what it all means for Esperance in the Breakfast Show.